Blowback.
By Jim Conley • May 1st, 2008 • Email This Post to a Friend •
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My ear is bleeding from being on the phone all day on this TAB political hit job [see post below].
Seems to me that the paper has really stepped in it. You just can’t run a story like this a few days before an election. Especially when the sources are a candidate (Nancy with an Asterisk Daly) who is opposing the subject of the story (Gil Hoy); and then quoting Daly’s two campaign co-chairmen — Selectmen Jesse Mermell and Bobby Allen — to round out the story.
Whether Hoy resigned or was forced out of the board chairmanship is not a story. Not all these months later.
But while these three selectmen are in a chatty mood on the events of that September, I have a few questions I’d like answered.
First, under what authority did Police Chief Daniel O’Leary conduct a stealth campaign into the Boston precincts to find out what went on with Hoy? Who did he report those findings to? Answer, please.
Next, Zoning Board member Lawrence Kaplan was in a tirade for the ages [see his resignation letter] and said Hoy forced him from his post (by raising questions over the current ZBA’s makeup). Was Lawrence Kaplan involved in the smear campaign? Answer, please.
How did the numerous callers and e-mailers to this site (and the TAB) know of Hoy’s alleged “contact with police” if it didn’t come from Chief O’Leary? Answer, please.
What responsibility will the three selectmen assume with respect to people taking an allegation for which there is no official record and then spreading it throughout town as if it were fact? What explanation can they give to the Hoy family after putting them through that?
And are they willing to subject themselves to the same?
Because one hears plenty of things in this business. But we apply a standard of fairness that says if its policy or politics, it’s fair game. If it’s personal, it needs a boatload of proof; and even then, it’s got a high bar to get over.
See, reasonable people don’t want to torture a family. My only regret is that the standard applies for those who would not hesitate to put a person (and his kids) on the rack.
Put an asterisk on that.
Jim Conley is publisher of On Brookline.
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I think the Brookline TAB has been politically conned by forces that do not want Gil Hoy reelected:
1. The front page story on Hoy’s resignation, dredging up at the last minute an old story with new versions of how Hoy was ganged-up on by the other Selectmen and forced to resign..
2. The TAB’s endorsement of Daly with an asterisk after first praising Hoy as the more competent of the two, but dropping Hoy despite any documentation of Boston Police charges against Hoy. (The TAB will probably point to the moving violation described in the front page story. But that’s not very convincing - or moving.)
3. The TAB’s high praise for Arthur Conquest running for School Committee but endorsing his opponent who had been appointed to fill a vacancy. The TAB may be overly concerned with Conquest standing up for his civil rights as controversial for a local weekly.
I wonder what the timelines were for the above at the TAB for its last issue before the May 6th elections? Was this unwitting on the part of the TAB? Or was it orchestrated by supporters of Daly, hoodwinking TAB innocents? Maybe a few whistleblowers will be heard from to connect the dots of 1, 2 and 3, in conjunction with the answers to the questions posed by Jim in his post.
Jim, I’m worried you might get yourself shipped off to the gulag if you criticize Comrade Allen and his secret police.
“BROOKLINE PAX, RIP”
This obituary may run in next Thursday’s Brookline TAB. The cause of PAX’s demise, according to the projected political autopsy, was cotributed to by the TAB’s asterisked endorsement of Nancy Daly over the TAB’s recognized and conceded greater competency of Gil Hoy over Daly.
You see, Hoy is endorsed by Brookline PAX. Brookline PAX (somewhat belatedly) came to the defense of Arthur Conquest over his treatment by BPD following the May 24th Town Hall Brawl. Hoy was the sole Selectman who thought the Selectmen should hold a public hearing on Conquest’s appeal to the Board from Lt. Burke’s October 10, 2007 report on the brouhaha.
Let’s go back a couple of years when it appeared that Brookline PAX was in a position to make a comeback with Marty Rosenthal’s protege Jesse Mermell as a candidate for Selectman. But Selectman Bobby Allen, then Board Chair, coopted Brookline PAX with the assistance of Marty Rosenthal who failed to realize that Mermell became Allen protege. (Jim reminds us often of Marty’s Menschness of Allen.) On the Board’s Conquest vote, protege Mermell joined Allen and Daly in declining Conquest’s appeal. (Selectman DeWitt bowed out, recusing herself because she may have earlier sided with Conquest, a friend of long-standing, thereby depriving Conquest of the second vote needed for a hearing. Contrast this with Allen’s declining to recuse himself, despite his familial connection with BPD which was investigating itself.)
So Hoy was left dangling, similar to Michael Sher a few years ago. Marty, as a co-President of Brookline PAX, could be listed as a contributing cause to PAX’s demise after so much promise just a couple of years ago with Jesse Mermell. But Jesse had to think of her own political future, perhaps at the state or even national level. When PAX finally did come to Conquest’s rescue, it was without, apparently, the support of Marty who had earlier stated in the TAB that he did not want to take sides. And despite certain civil rights commonalities between Brookline PAX and the MA ACLU, the latter apparently was reluctant to come to Conquest’s assistance.
Brookline voters may decide whether this obituary runs next Thursday.
Sorry to see the article dredging up that old incident in the TAB. According to the Constitution, Gill did nothing wrong. The Constitution is the Supreme law of the land. Since he didn’t do anything illegal, what right did the other Selectmen have to ask him to resign? If he gets re-elected, it would seem appropriate that he resumes his term as Chair. I appreciated his introduction of Public Comment, and he stood up for peoples’ civil rights on the ZBA issue. A few years back, he spoke for residents’ rights to speaks on the St. Aidans issue as well. Unless someone’s done something illegal according to law, negative pressure from other members of the board is unlawful. It constitutes harassment. Gill’s got my vote.
Susan Allen
“Endorsed by the TAB”
Dick Benka’s campaign took advantage of his endorsement by the TAB on Thursday by promptly printing up and pasting on his posted signs the very next day this sticker: “Endorsed by the TAB.”
But Selectman Daly’s campaign does not seem to have been as impressed by the TAB’s endorsement of her, perhaps because of the asterisk that accompanied it. Perhaps Daly’s campaign strategists had concern that omitting the asterisk might have been politically deceptive. While some might perceive of the asterisk as “starlike,” most of Brookline political literati would be looking for the footnote as Daly has failed to display “starlike” qualities. So far, no TAB endorsement stickers on Daly’s signs.
Selectman Hoy’s campaign might consider a “Not endorsed by the TAB” sticker to affix to his signs wth an asterisk and a footnote that the TAB really, really thought he was a better Selectman than Daly. In this way, Hoy can make lemonade out of the lemon served him by the TAB while Daly just sucks on the lemon the TAB handed her.
Update (1): “Endorsed by the TAB”
This morning I noted on one lawn in my neighborhood with both Benka and Daly signs, side-by-side, each with pasted on “Endorsed by the TAB” stickers. The Daly endorsement sticker did not, however, include the TAB’s asterisk. Is this politically deceptive? Does this detract from the TAB’s asteriskless endorsement of Benka? These signs are side-by-side, sort of like the bride and groom on a wedding cake (actually a well-manicured lawn). Without the asterisk, this may look like a political marriage made in heaven; but with the asterisk it might have the impact of the “scarlet letter,” looking more like a political marriage made in hell. Is it possible that Daly’s political strategists noted my earlier comment on these endorsement stickers? Or was this solely the act of the homeowner supporting both Benka and Daly? There are a number of Daly signs, standing alone in my neighborhood, none of which has the “Endorsed by the TAB” sticker, with or without the asterisk. So perhaps this is an aberation.
What’s happening in other neighborhoods?
Update (2): “Endorsed by the TAB”
Today I sighted more Daly signs in my neighborhood that have slapped on “Endorsed by the TAB” stickers without the asterisk since Update (1). Does this suggest that Daly’s political strategists have been reading this Blog and are desperately concerned that her campaign needs a boost and who cares if omitting the asterisk may be politically deceptive and deprives Dick Benka of the full benefit of the TAB’s unqualified, unasterisked endorsement of him?